Motion-picture apparatus



WITNESSES S. KAMOWSKL MOTION PICTURE APPARATUS APPLICATION FILED APR. 11, 191p.

1,258,226. Patented Mar. 5, 1918.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1- INVENTOR 224 By gm A'rro R N sir S. K'AIVIOWSKI.

MOTION PICTURE APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 11. 1917.

Patented Mar. 5, 1918.

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MOTION-PICTURE APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED APR. H. ]917.

Patented Mar. 5, 1918.

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STATES To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, STEPHEN Ksuowsm, a citizen of the United States, residing at Nanticokein the county of Luzerne and State of iennsylvania, have invented new and useful Improvements in Motion-Picture Apparatus, of which the following is a specification. 5 I

This invention relates to motion picture apparatus, and more especial to those of the multiplex or duplex type; and the object of the sameis, broadly, to-prevent flickering when a special double film is used or when a special single film is employed.

This object is carried out by mechanism which involves special featuresof improvement, all as hereinafter more fully described and claimed and as shown in the drawings wherein Figure 1 is a side view, partly broken away, and Fig. 2 is a rear view of this machine complete. I

Figs. 3 and 4 are sectional details on the lines 3-3 and 4-4: of Fig. 1 respectively. Y

Fig. 5 is a erspective detail of the cam. Fig. 6 is a agmentary detail in side elevation showing a sli ht modification, and Fig. 7 is a section on t e line 7-7 of Fig. 6.

ig. 8 is an elevation of a portion of the double film and Fig. 9 of a single film which be used in my machine.

gi 1g. 10 1s a perspectlve detail of the counter-gears on the shaft, and the other gears connecting therewith.

All the mechanism of this apparatus is mounted within a frame, broadl designated herein by the reference letter B the power wheel P may be driven by a crank C or other means not nec'essary to amplify, the upper and lower. reels are lettered R and R and the upper and lower lenses L and L and the source of light is omitted. The film as usual leads from the upper or, feed reel R.

through the'machine past the lenses and behind the shutter, an is wound on the lower or winding reel R, and the movement of this film is' controlled by sprockets driven from the power which in the pres ent case is the gear wheel P. It is broadly the purpose of the present invention to feed the fihn in such manner past the two lenses that when the shutter uncovers one lens the film opposite thereto 'is stationary, whereas, the film opposite the other and at this tune the covered lens is moving quickly forward, yet the rotarymotio'n of the two reels Specification of Letters Patent.

. Application fled April 11, 1917-. Serial No. 191,233.

.around a sprocket Patented Mal-3.191s.

is constant so that there is no jerk on the film and no injury thereto. As a result a.

certain looseness or loop of the film must accumulate above the tension of the upper lens when the film is not moving past the same, and this is permissible because there is space within the framework at this point,

but there is hardly space for the accumulation of a similar loop'within the lower port1on of the framework, and accordingly my mechanism takes up this loop so that the film is well guided to the lower reel R.

Coming now to the details of the present invention, the film 100 is led from the upper reel first under a tension spring 1 and 2 sion spring 3 behind between thesexsprings it has an opportunity to make the loop 101 as explained below.

The power wheel P is' connected through gears 4 and 5 with a gear 6 on the shaft of the sprocket 2 for rotating the latter. in the direction, of the arrow so that the'film 100 is drawn constantly from the reel R. After passing down by the u per lens L, the fihn passes around a ro er 7 and is given a bight 102 around a sprocket 8, thence it passes over another roller 9, between a tension spring 13 and the lower lens L, over a roller 10, and'is given a second bight 103 around a sprocket 11, thence it is carried forward over a roller 12, and backward over a roller-13' and finally downward in a stretch 104 and onto the lower reel R. My mechanism is such that the film where it makes the bights 102 and 103 offset its looseness where it makes the loop 101, as will be explained below. A rock lever 1 1 is pivoted at 15 in the frame F and supports the shafts of said sprockets, and the lower end of this lever is pivoted at 16 to a push-rod or .pitman 17 which is actuated by a cam 18 whose shaft has a gear 19 driven from the power wheel P; and the result is that the sprockets are moved simultaneousl and oppositely as the crossed dotted lines in Fig. 1 indicate.

For rotating the sprockets, the gear 4: (which is quite wide on its meshes with a counter-gear 20 WhlCh in turn engages a gear 28 on the shaft of the upper sprocket 8 to drive the latter in the dlrection of the arrow thereon, and the wide gear 4 also meshes with an idle gear 22 which in counter-gear 20, and this gear 23 drives a and thence to the tenthe upper lens L, and

' gear 21 on the shaft of the lower sprocket 11 in the direction of the arrow on the latter. In Figs. 1, 2 and 3 the construction is such that the sprockets are simultaneously in the frame F and provided with a helical gear which is driven by a pin gear 36 fast on the shaft-of. the wide gear 4. The lenses L and L- are not directly above each other, as will be seen from Figs. 2 and {1, and the double film 37 shown in Fig. 8 has its first icture numbered 1 disposed on onehalf an its second picture numbered 2 disposed on the other half some distance in rear of the first, then the third picture numbered 3 is on the first-mentioned half adja cent that numbered 1, and so on-the pictures being in staggered relation to each other and stepped a distance which equals thelength of the film from the upper lens L through the b ghts 102 and over the roller 9 to the lower lens L.

With this construction, the operation of my machine is as follows :The uppermost or initial sprocket 2 draws the film 100 from the reel R at a constant speed but obviously it can be moved past the upper lens only when the shutter 30 closes this lens, whereas it must not move at all when the shutter exposes this lens. If we assume that this lens exposes pictures bearing even numbers in Fig. 8, then the lower lens L will expose pictures bearing odd numbers in the same view, and after number 1 is exposed, immediately number 2 is exposed, and then numexposes this lens.

her 3, and so on. When the rockin mechanism 17, 18 swings the upper en of the rock lever 14 forward, the upper sprocket 8 moves toward the roller 7 while it is rotated reversely" at just a proper speed to cause it to travel within the bight 102 of the film so that the latter is not drawn at all through the tension 3; or in other words, the picture opposite the lens L is stationary while the open side or cut-away portion of the disk Meanwhile the lower arm of the rock lever and this movement together with its rotation draws on the bight 103 of the film so as to take up the-looseness between the sprocket 8 and the roller 9 and to draw said looseness down through the tension 13 and under the roller 10; or in other words the stretch of film behind the lens L (which is now covered by the shutter) is moved qluickly forward one step, or advanced so t lat picture number'l is replaced by picture number 3 ,on the film 37 while picture number 2 is be- 11 is swinging to the rear ing exposed. When the rock lever 14 swings in the opposite direction, the reverse action takes place. In other words at this time,

while the lower lens L is uncovered, the film forward of the tension 13 is stationary and the rearward movement of the upper sprocket 8 draws on the bight 102 so that the loop 101 is taken up and picture number 2 is replaced by picture number/1 at the same time that picture number 3 is being exposed. It follows that the picture being exposed is absolutely stationary for an instant while the cut-away side of the shutter passes the lens, and the alternate or intervening picture on the other half of the film 37 is being moved quickly across the other lens which at this'time iscovered by the solid half 30 of the shutter; and yet there is no jerking on the film 100 where it passes off the upper reel, and it is fed constantly and reliably to the lower reel R which latter may be drlven by any suitable means such as the belt 3 8 for instance.

In' the modified form of my invention illustrated in Figs. 6 and 7 a single film 39 is used as shown in Fig. 9, but picture number 2 is disposed a distance in rear of picture number 1 equal to the same distance on the film 37 and the intervening even-numbered pictures are, alternated with the odd-numbered pictures as therein shown. In Fig. 6

the bight 102 leads around the upper sprocket 8", thence over rollers 9 and 10, aroundthe lower sprocket 11 anddirectly as at 101/- to the lower reel-the construc tion being much the same as that above described excepting that the rollers 12 and 13- are obviously omitted. The rocking mechanism 17, 18 of Fig. 5 is here substantially duplicated. The rock lever 14' supports the shafts of the two sprockets, but its pivot 15 is not midway between those shafts. The reason is because the lower bight 103 of the film here passes over the lower roller 11 instead of under it as shown in Fig. 1, and it is essential that when the upper sprocket moves inward and the-lower s rocket moves outward they shall respective y accumulate and take up equal stretches of the film because they rotate in opposite directions. In this modified construction the u per roller has on its shaft a ratchet wheel 18 whose teeth engage long pawl-arms 47 and 46 disposed respectively aboveand below the wheel and spring-pressed toward it as shown, and the lower ratchet wheelafl is also disposed between similar pawl-arms 42 and 43,911 arms being curved so that as the rock lever swings and the ratchet wheels move to and fro, they will be turned in the proper direction. This detail of construction obviates the necessity for the specific sprocket-driving mechanism shown in Fig. 3, but the results are the same 7 and the uses and operation of the de 'vice are iso combination with two lenses, a shutter uncovering them alternately, and a film having its pictures stepped so as to be successively exposed through the lenses; of a constantly .rotating sprocket feeding the film through a loop to the upper lens, superimposed sockets beneath the upper-lens and'around whi'ch bights of the film are led, gears on the shafts of said sprockets, counter gears respectively in mesh therewith, and means for driving said counter-gears constantly in opposite directions, for the purpose set forth? 2. In a moving picture apparatus, the

.conibination with two lenses, a shutter un- 4 covering them alternately, and a film having its pictures stepped so as to be successively exposed throu h the lenses; of a constantly rotating sp'roc et, feeding the film through a loop to the upper lens, a tension adjacent the latter, a pair of sprockets" around which bights of the film. are led, a tension adjacent the lower lens over which the film between its bights is led, a rock lever supporting said pair of sprockets, a pitman connected with said rock lever, and cam mechanism driven by the power wheel of the apparatus for actuating said pitman intimed relation with the'movements of said shutter.

3. In a moving picture apparatus, the combination with. twolenses, a shutter uncovering them alternately, and a film having its pictures stepped so asfto be successively exposed through the lenses; of a constantly rotating sprocket feeding the film 'tgrough a loop to the upper lens, a tension'a jacent the latter, su" erimposed spaced sprockets around which ights of said film are passed beneath the upper lens, a tension adjacent the lower lens over which the film is passed between its bights, a rock lever supporting said sprockets and pivoted between them, means for swinging said lever, and means for positively driving said sprockets at the same speed that the lever is rocked, for the purpose set forth.

4. In a moving picture apparatus, the combination with two lenses, a shutter uncovering them alternately, and a film having its pictures stepped so as to be successively exposed through the lenses; of a constantly rotating sprocket feeding the film through a loop to the upper lens, a tension adjacent the latter, superimposed sprockets beneath the upper lens and around which bights of the film are led, a tension adjacent the lower lens over which the film is led between said bights, gears on the shafts of said sprockets out of line with each other, counter gears concentrically mounted between said other gears and respectively in mesh therewith, and means for driving said counter-gears simultaneously in opposite directions at the same speed, for the purpose set forth. 7

5. In a moving picture apparatus, the

combination with two lenses, means for uncovering them alternately, and a film having its pictures stepped so as to be successively exposed through the lenses; of a constantly rotating sprocket feeding the film through a loop to the upper lens, a tension adjacent the latter, superimposed sprockets beneath the upper lens and around which bights of the film are led, a tension adjacent the lower lens over'which the film is led between said bights, gears on the shafts of said sprockets out of line with each other, counter-gears concentrically mounted between said other gears and respectively in mesh therewith, a wide gear driven from the power wheel of the apparatus and in mesh with one of said counter-gears, and an idle gear meshing with the wide gear and the other countergear for rotating the latter oppositely to and at the same speed as the first-named counter-gear, for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

STEPHEN KAMOWSKL 

